US Secretary of State John Kerry made his first visit to Kuwait as America’s top diplomat, having talks with the tiny, oil-rich country’s leader about deepening violence in Syria, Iran’s new president and prospects for peace in the Mideast.
Kerry met on Wednesday with Kuwait’s emir, Sheik Sabah Al Ahmed Al Sabah, during a stop on his two-week trip through the Mideast and Asia, AP reported.
Kuwait, which has joined other Persian Gulf nations in backing Syrian rebels fighting Syrian President Bashar Assad, is the hub for the US military’s main ground force in the region.
The country is scheduled to have parliamentary elections next month amid growing turmoil between the opposition and the ruling family.

Egypt’s Army Reinforces Bases for Protests

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Morsi’s backers, in turn, say the mainly liberal and secular political opposition is fomenting a coup to remove an elected leader because they can’t compete at the ballot box.
Central to whatever happens on June 30 — the anniversary of Morsi’s inauguration — is the stance of the military.
Last Sunday, Egypt’s army chief gave the president and the opposition a week to reach an understanding to prevent bloodshed and warned it would intervene to stop the nation from entering a “dark tunnel.”
Gen. Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi also gave a thinly veiled warning to Morsi’s backers that the military will step in if the protesters are attacked during the planned protests, as some hard-liners have threatened.
In the days since, there’s been no movement toward a resolution. Morsi has given no signs of making any concessions. He invited all sides to a meeting Wednesday, when he plans a national address. The opposition in turn rejects talks, saying they come “extremely late.” It is boycotting the meeting, saying it is not serious, and will only join a dialogue if el-Sissi convenes it — a sign of how it sees him as the only reliable arbiter.
“There is just no time left. It is too late and anything the president tries to do now will in reality be an attempt to discourage people from coming out on Sunday. We have no confidence in the president,” said Khaled Dawoud, the spokesman for the National Salvation Front, the main opposition grouping.
In his comments, el-Sissi said the two sides must reach a “genuine” reconciliation, seeming to acknowledge the opposition’s argument that Morsi’s past calls for dialogue were empty gestures.
The opposition has laid out a post-Morsi road map that would have the chief justice of the Supreme Constitutional Court step in as interim president, a non-partisan figure as prime minister heading a small Cabinet of technocrats, an expert panel to amend the Islamist-backed constitution and new presidential elections six months later.
How to get to that point is less clear.
If the protesters are attacked by hardcore Morsi supporters and the army sides with the protesters, it would add significant pressure on the president. At the least, the army is likely to deploy to protect vital institutions like the state TV, parliament, the Cabinet, and the media complex that houses a multitude of TV networks, some critical of Morsi.
The opposition seems confident it can have army intervention without the generals actually taking power like they did after Mubarak’s fall.
“Unlike last time in 2011, the military will not intervene to rule but to protect a people against a regime that is no longer wanted,” said Ammar Ali Hassan, a prominent analyst and author. “There seems to be agreement by the military over the road map charted by the protest movement.”
Morsi’s office has depicted his comments as a sign of support for the president’s “legitimacy.”
Presidential spokesman Omar Amer underlined to reporters that Morsi is supreme commander of the armed forces and said “there is complete agreement and coordination” between him and el-Sissi.
Another Morsi spokesman, Ihab Fahmy, said el-Sissi’s comments were made in coordination with the presidency and “were intended to defuse tension.”
But some of Morsi’s Islamist backers saw el-Sissi’s statement as a slap and were furious.
“The comments made by Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi ... are extremely reckless, a blatant and public aggression and a prelude to a coup that is unacceptable to anyone with dignity and self-respect,” Hazem Abu Ismail, an ultraconservative Salafi who backs Morsi, wro te on his Facebook page.
An opinion piece posted on Tuesday on the website of the Freedom and Justice Party, the Brotherhood’s political arm, berated the opposition for wishing for a military coup.
“You are urging the army, as represented by Gen. el-Sissi, to stage a coup against legitimacy and to return to power. You have forgotten that you were the first to chant for the fall of military rule,” Said el-Ghareeb wrote in the article.
Questions remain whether the military has enough motive to jump back into the political fray.
The military has secured its special status in the new constitution as a self-ruled institution with little outside oversight over its finances or massive business interests.
It also is likely loath to expose itself to the harsh criticism and blow to its prestige it suffered during the nearly 17 months after Mubarak’s fall when the generals directly held the reins of power. Chants of “down with military rule” and personal insults directed at the army’s top brass were common amid protests over its perceived mishandling of the nation’s transition to democratic rule and over its human rights record.
Still, perceptions of the armed forces have dramatically changed in the year since Morsi took office.
The US and British-trained el-Sissi was named as defense minister and army chief by Morsi in August after the newly inaugurated president forced out the Mubarak-era head of the military, Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi.
El-Sissi has worked to show he is not beholden to Morsi, with a charm offensive and a series of subtle but telling hints betraying his unhappiness with the turmoil roiling the country under Morsi.
On several occasions, he sought to reassure Egyptians the military will spring to their defense if needed and at times appeared to do things just to spite the president and ingratiate himself to the opposition.
For example, he sent a military aircraft to airlift to hospital a TV show host who is a harsh Morsi critic when involved in a road accident in southern Egypt. Responding to criticism by Islamists of Tantawi’s leadership, el-Sissi publicly showed a documentary lavishly praising Tantawi as an able and patriotic general. He also remained silent on a series of leaks to the media by unnamed military officials on the army’s growing unhappiness with Morsi and his backers.
The military may also have other reasons to throw its weight behind those seeking an end to Morsi’s rule — concerns over the security implications of rising Islamic extremists.
El-Sissi has cited sectarian and internal strife as well as the collapse of state institutions as justification for intervention by the military.

Qatar’s New Emir Raised Profile With Sports

Qatar’s new ruler was the not the first choice to lead the Persian Gulf nation and its growing political and economic ambitions.
Sheik Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani became the crown prince a decade ago — at the age of 23 — when his older brother Jassim gave up his position as emir-in-waiting, AP reported.
That began a gradual grooming process for the British-educated Sheik Tamim inside Qatar’s security and investment arms, which are bankrolled by enormous oil and gas wealth.
As deputy commander of the armed forces, he had sway over multibillion dollar arms purchases and direct dealing with defense officials from the US and other Western allies. His senior role with the Qatar Investment Authority gave him a powerful voice over the direction of one of the world’s most active sovereign wealth funds, whose landmark stakes around the world include Harrods department store in London and luxury jeweler Tiffany & Co.
But Sheik Tamim’s most enduring international image to this point has been linked to sports.
His crowning moment came as he helped win Qatar’s bid to host the 2022 World Cup. Sheik Tamim and other Qatari officials, however, later faced complaints that the nation used its vast wealth to swing support its way from football federation members in Africa and elsewhere.
Last year was less positive — an International Olympic Committee member since 2002, Sheik Tamim headed Doha’s unsuccessful bid for the 2020 Olympics. Qatar’s capital has been mentioned as a possible bidder for the 2024 Games — an effort that could get a boost from the new emir.
Sheik Tamim — who also has served as head of Qatar’s Olympic panel since 2000 — helped avoid an embarrassing showdown with Olympic overseers by organizing the first female athletes representing Qatar for last year’s London Olympics. Neighboring Saudi Arabia and the Asian country of Brunei also sent their first women Olympic athletes.
Sheik Tamim’s Qatar Sports Investments owns 70 percent of the football club Paris Saint-Germain.
Sheik Tamim was educated at schools in England and then graduated from Sandhurst, Britain’s prestigious military academy and alma mater for many Middle Eastern leaders. His two wives include Sheika Anoud bint Mana al-Hajri, a member of a prominent Qatari family. He has six children.

Over 100,000 Killed In Syria’s War

More than 100,000 people have been killed since the start of Syria’s conflict over two years ago, an activist group said Wednesday.
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which has been tracking the death toll in the conflict through a network of activists in Syria, released its death toll at a time when hopes for a negotiated settlement to end the civil war fade, AP reported.
It said a total of 100,191 had died over the 27 months of the conflict. Of those, 36,661 are civilians, the group said.
On the government side, 25,407 are members of President Bashar Assad’s armed forces and 17,311 pro-government fighters.
Deaths among Assad’s opponents included 13,539 rebels, 2,015 army defectors and 2,518 foreign fighters battling against the government.
Entry of the foreign media into Syria is severely restricted and few reports from the fighting can be independently verified.
Earlier this month, the UN put the number of those killed in the conflict at 93,000 between March 2011 when the crisis started and end of April this year.
UN’s special envoy to Syria, Lakhdar Brahimi, told reporters on Tuesday that an international peace conference proposed by Russia and the US will not take place until later in the summer, partly because of opposition disarray.
Saudi Arabia is sending lethal aid to the rebels. The United States also said it will provide arms to the opposition despite the Obama administration’s reluctance to send heavier weapons for fear they might end up in the hands of al-Qaida-affiliated groups. Russia, Assad’s staunch supporter, has been providing his army with weapons.
In Damascus, Syrian Information Minister Omran al-Zoubi lashed out at Saudi Arabia, accusing the Persian Gulf kingdom of backing “terrorists” after Riyadh condemned Damascus for enlisting fighters from its Lebanese ally in its struggle with rebels.
Damascus has previously blamed the Persian Gulf states, who along with the United States and its European allies back the Syrian opposition, for the civil war.
The remarks by al-Zoubi were carried late Tuesday by the state agency SANA after Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal met with US Secretary of State John Kerry in Jiddah and condemned Assad for bolstering his army with fighters from Hezbollah. Prince Saud charged that Syria faces a “foreign invasion.”
Al-Zoubi fired back, saying Saudi diplomats have blood on their hands and are “trembling in fear of the victories of the Syrian army.”

Israel World’s 6th Biggest Arms Exporter

A newly released military intelligence report says Israel has become the sixth largest arms exporter in the world.
The report released on June 24 by IHS Jane’s, a business intelligence company working on military as well as security topics, said Israel overtook a number of countries including Italy, China, Canada and Sweden in the global arms trade, Press TV reported.
“Israel’s exports increased 74 percent to $2.4 billion and their market share has risen from 2.4 percent to 3.5 percent. Mainly with sales to India,” the report added.
The United States and Russia, with the export of over $28 billion and $10 billion respectively in 2012, have been the world’s top arms exporters, while France with $4.5 billion in sales and the United Kingdom with some $4 billion in sales rank third and fourth.
The world’s fifth-largest arms exporter is Germany with an export total of $3 billion, the report noted.
The major importers of arms are India, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Turkey, Egypt, South Korea, Australia and Iraq, the report said.
In May, the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) said the United States and Russia hold market shares of 30 percent and 26 percent respectively in arms exporters.

Iraqi Kurdish List Wins Largest Bloc in Ninevah

Iraqi electoral officials said a Kurdish coalition has won the largest single bloc of seats in provincial elections in the restive northern province of Ninevah, though it fell short of a majority.
The Independent High Electoral commission announced that the Kurdish-backed al-Taakhi list won 11 of 39 provincial council seats up for grab, AP reported.
Ninevah borders Iraq’s largely autonomous Kurdish region and has a sizable Kurdish minority. Many of the remaining seats went to Arab parties.
Iraqi parliament speaker Osama al-Nujaifi’s Sunni Arab-backed United bloc came in second, with eight seats. The Loyalty to Ninevah party, backed by Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, was third with four seats.
Residents in Ninevah and neighboring Anbar province voted last week in local elections that had been delayed due to security concerns.

Palestinians’ Protest

Palestinians protested on Israel’s closing of their national theater in Beit ul-Moqqadas during a planned children’s festival on Wednesday.